Coin sorting machine



March L l93.. ,E. P. DOMNELLAN ZM COIN SORTNG MACHINE @riginal Filed June 28, 1933 2 Sheets-Shqqfn l t 4Z A --f um mmm Q."

March i, W38.- a. P. DONNLLAN COIN SORTING MACHINE original Filed June 2s, 1935 shams-shea 2 ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar.

UNITED STATES This chines for assorting Fig. 1 is a top pl man 2,110,014 COIN SORTING MACHINE Edward P. Donnellan.,

to Standard-Johnson Y., a corporation of Original application Ju 678,018. Divided and ber 22, 193

5 Claims.

invention relates to improvements in maan view of a coin counting machine according to this invention, with certain parts broken Wai7 I5, so that the same to show underlying struc- Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the ma- Brooklyn, N. Y., assigner Company, Enc.,

Brooklyn, New Yor ne 28, 1933, Serial No. this application Novem- 5 Serial No. 51,058

(Cl. 13B- 3) Connected with said bottom plate I8 is a central bearing portion I7 bearing portion I3 at Journaled in the bearing portion I3 is a r0- tatable spindle I8. Mounted in and across the frame-Work or housing Il] is a transverse driven adapted to mesh with a Worm gear 2| that is affixed to the lower exteriorly projecting end of said spindle I8. Arranged within said hopper Airixed to said hub section 24 provided at itsI form, is provided in suitable locations, with coin delivery openings, one of said openings, as 29, lying in the path of movement and beneath the outer openings or pockets 2l, and the other, as 30, lying in the path of movement and beneath the inner openings or pockets 28, whereby coins conveyed upward in the hopper by the distributer o-r feed disc may drop from said respective openings o r pockets through said respective delivery openings for deposit in the coin carrier contained within the bowl Il, as will hereinafter more particularly appear. Suitable sheer plate means (not shown) is provided to remove excess coins so as to assure but a single coin at a time being conveyed in any given pocket, of the respective outer and inner rows 21 and 28 thereof, over and for delivery through the respective delivery openings 29 and 30.

Fixed on said spindle I8 so as to be rotated thereby within said bowl ll and beneath said hopper bottom plate I6 is a coin carrier having a central hub-member 3l and a cylindrical body 32 which is connected with said hub-member by spider arms 33. The cylindrical body 32 is provided around its outer circumference with a plurality of coin carrier members which are opposed to the annular wall of said bowl ll. These carrier members are arranged in two sets, the carrier members 34 and the carrier members 35, the members of one set being alternated with those of the other set. Each carrier member 34 is provided with a substantially perpendicular coin receiving way, preferably in the form of a radial slot 36 open throughout its length toward the annular wall of said bowl and closed at the back of the cylindrical body 32. In like manner, each carrier member 35 is provided with a similar perpendicular coin receiving way or slot 31. The coin carrier members 34 and their ways 36 correspond in number to the number of coin receiving openings or pockets 21 in the outer annular row provided in the distributer or feed disc 22, and are respectively aligned therewith; while the coin carrier members 35 and their ways 31 correspond in number to the number of coin receiving openings or pockets 28 in the inner annular row provided in the distributer or feed disc 22, the same being respectively aligned therewith. Directly above and communicating with the ways or slots 36 of the coin carrier members 34 are funnel-like mouths 38 which respectively underlie the openings or pockets 21 of the distributer or feed disc, thus providing an outer annular row of said funnel-like mouths cooperative with the outer annular row of feed-disc coin conveying openings or pockets. Inwardly off-set from but communicating with the ways or slots 31 of the coin carrier members 35 through interconnecting forwardly and downwardly inclined chute sections 39 are funnel-like mouths 4l) which respectively underlie the openings or pockets 28 of the distributer or feed disc; thus providing an inner annular row of said funnel-like mouths cooperative with the inner annular row of feeddisc coin conveying openings or pockets. Since the coin carrier and feed-disc rotate together, being each driven by the common spindle IB, the same are so related that as a coin conveying opening or pocket 21 passes over the outer coin delivery opening 29 of the hopper bottom plate I6, a corresponding coin carrier member' 34 passes beneath said delivery opening 29, and consequently a coin conveyed in the latter will drop directly into the funnel-like mouth 38 of said passage carrier member so as to be deposited in the way or slot 36 of the latter; likewise, as a coin conveying opening or pocket 28 passes over the inner coin delivery opening 30 of the hopper bottom plate I6, a funnel-like mouth 4U of a corresponding coin carrier member 36 passes beneath said delivery opening 30, and consequently a coin conveyed in such opening or pocket 28 will drop directly into said funnel-like mouth 40, to thence pass downwardly and outwardly through the communicating chute-section 39 into said passing carrier member 36 so as to be deposited in the way or slot 31 of the latter.

The annular wall of said bowl Il is formed on its inner surface in opposition to the circumferential face of the coin carrier with a series of separate annular runways at different perpendicularly spaced levels, and respectively corresponding to the respective denominations or sizes of coins to be counted. As shown in the drawings, the machine is arranged to handle three denominations of coins, viz. quarters, nickels, and dimes, so that three runways corresponding to each such denomination are provided, but it will of course be obvious that the machine may be arranged to handle more or less denominations of coins by increasing or decreasing correspondingly the number of coin runways. As shown in the drawings, for the purpose of illustrating the principles involved in the coin runway arrangement, intermediate the top and bottom of the bowl Il its annular wall is provided with an inwardly off-set annular shoulder 4i which forms a stop for the coin of largest diameter, in this illustration a quarter, der 4l the space between the bowl wall and the cylindrical body 32, forming the closed back of the ways of the coin carrier member, is slightly in excess of the diameter of a quarter and consequently provides a quarter-dollar runway, Spaced below the stop shoulder 4| is the next inwardly offset annular shoulder 42 which forms a stop engageable by nickel coins, and thus limits a nickel coin runway beneath the quarter runway. In like manner, spaced below the stopshoulder 42 is another further inwardly offset annular shoulder 43 which forms a stop engageable by dime coins, and thus limits a dime coin runway beneath the nickel runway. From the above description it will be understood that a coin of any denomination may be deposited in any of the ways or slots of either the carrier members 34 or 35, and when so deposited the same will gravitate to the particular runway corresponding to its size, the smaller coins passing unobstructedly downward through the wider runways, while the larger coins are arrested by the stop shoulder limiting the bottom of the runways corresponding thereto. In this manner each coin entered in the coin carrier is at once deposited or positioned in the path of travel dedicated solely to coins of its particular denomination, and consequently the coins are positioned in separated relation to move in separate paths so as to be caused to actuate only the particular counting mechanism corresponding thereto.

By providing the novel form and construction of carrier member having two sets of coin carrier members 34 and 35, the members of which are in alternated relation, with offset funnel mouths and communicating chute sections serving one set, so that the respective sets are served from separate concentric annular rows of feed disc conveyer openings or pockets, I have, without necessity for enlarging the diameter of the bowl ll, and without necessity for increasing the peripheral speed of the coin carrier and feed disc, substantially doubled the capacity of the machine, which in effect means that approximately twice the number of coins can be run through the machine and discharged as counted within a given period of time. In fact, without enlarging the machine I am able to handle and count approximately 850 coins a minute as against approximately 450 coins a minute which and above this stop shoulcoins will be obvious.

The means for separately counting and registering the count of each particular denomination of coin comprises a set of counting registers oi any well known type or style, comprising a quarter primary register M, a nickel primary register 45 and a dime primary register 46. Operative with each primary register (said primary registers being equipped with any well-known form of set-back means governable by the crankhandle 4l) is a cumulative register viz. the quarter cumulative register 48, the nickel cumulative register 49, and the dime cumulative register 5u.

Suitably supported by brackets 5l aflxed to the bowl li, is a fulcrum post 52, pivotally connected with which are vertically spaced triplevers, comprising a quarter actuatable triplever 53, a nickel actuatable trip-lever 54 and a dime actuatable trip-lever The annular side wall of the bowl Il is provided with slots 56 respectively communicating with the several coin runways, and through which the free ends of said trip-levers extend to lie in the path of movement of coins carried through said runways. The free ends of said respective trip-levers are provided with nosings 5l engageable by coins past the trip-levers through the runways. The trip-levers 53, 54 and 55 are respectively provided with outwardly extending arms 53', 54' and 55 which carry upstanding studs 58. Also supported by said bracket 5l is a fulcrum. means 59 in connection with which are pivotally mounted a series of bell-crank levers Ell, 5l and 62 corresponding respectively to the trip-levers 53, 54 and 55. One arm of each bell-crank lever is provided with a bifurcate end portion 63 to straddle and thus operatively engage the studs 58 of the respective trip-levers. The bell-crank lever 60 is connected through a link 64 with the actuating lever 65 of the quarter register mechanism; the bell-crank lever BI is in like manner connected through a link 66 with the actuating lever 67 of the nickel register mechanism, while the bell-crank lever 62 is connected through a link E8 with the actuating lever 59 of the dirne register mechanism.

Beyond the nosings of the trip levers, the sides of the bowl are cut away to provide a discharge opening 'lil communicating with the several coin runways through which coins, after being counted are discharged from the bowl Il. Aligned to serve the respective coin runways at said discharge opening 'Iii are discharge chutes 1l, 72, 13; one of said chutes, as "H, receiving quarter coins; another, as '12, receiving nickel coins; and another, as 13, receiving dime coins. These chutes respectively communicate with collector funnel means 'is beneath which collection receptacles may be placed, or to which coin receiving bags may be connected to receive counted batches of coins of predetermined number after the same are counted.

As the coins are propelled through their respective runways by the coin carrier, the same, before reaching the discharge opening '10, are carried in passing engagement with the nosings of the trip-levers, whereby the latter are turned on their fulcrums to transmit motion to the bellcrank levers, and through these by way of the links to the actuating lever of the respective register mechanisms, whereby each coin before discharge, effects a registering impulse or unit movement of the register mechanism assigned to count coins of its particular denomination.

The means for driving the feed disc 22 and coin carrier so as to deliver the coins in operative engagement with the coin register actuating devices, comprises a drive pulley l5 free to rotate on adapted to be normally clutched Said drive pulley 'l5 may be driven by belt 16, or other suitable power transmission means, from any suitable power source, as e. g. an electric motor l1.

Referring to Fig. 3 of the drawings, I haye shown an alternative arrangement of bottom plate coin discharge means between the feed-disc 22 and coin carrier. In this arrangement, instead of providing the single coin delivery openings 29 and 30, each large enough to admit passage of coins of the largest as well as of smallest diameter, I provide delivery openings having succeeding portions progressively graduated in size corresponding to the diiferent diameters of coins to be handled; these openings each including a dime section D, a nickel section N, and a quarter section Q, and if other denominations of coins are to be counted additional sections corresponding thereto. These sections are so disposed that the smallest coin is deposited in a coin carrier posit of the smallest coin first followed by coins of increasing diameter. By this arrangement, the actual assorting of the coins precedes the deposit thereof in the coin carrier, and somewhat increased speed of counting can be attained, since more than one coin can be carried in the slots or ways of the coin carrier.

I am aware that many changes could be made 'n the above described constructions and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing fromk the scope thereof as defined inthe following It is therefore intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claimz- 1. In a machine of the kind described having a bowl provided with means to sustain coins of different denominations, for movement in correspondingly dilferent annular paths, spaced in a common substantially vertical plane contiguous to a discharge opening with which the bowl is furnished, a coin carrier rotatable in said bowl, said carrier having around its circumference a rst and second set of radially disposed vertical carrying ways opposed to and open toward the sides of said bowl and adapted to hold the coins standing edgewise across their selective paths of movement around the bowl, the members of said sets of ways being alternately arranged, said carrier having at its top an outer annular row of funnel-like mouths corresponding to and aligned directly over said first set of ways to lead downwardly thereinto, said carrier having at its top an inner annular row of funnel-like mouths corresponding to and inwardly olf-set from said second set of ways, said carrier having downwardly and outwardly inclined chute portions extending between the latter mouths and the upper end portions of said second set of ways, the mouths or both rows thereof having downwardly inclined sides adapted to turn coins passing therethrough from flatwise positions to standing positions for operative disposition in said sets of ways, a hopper above said bowl and coin carrier, said hopper having a stationary bottom plate, a feed-disc rotatable in said hopper over said bottom plate synchronously with said coin carrier, said feed-disc having outer and inner annular rows of open conveyer pockets aligned over the respective outer and inner rows of the mouths of said carrier ways, said pockets corresponding in number and position to said mouths, and. said bottom plate having coin delivery openings to afford communication between said feed-disc pockets and the mouths of said carrier ways as these parts move into registration therewith.

2. In a machine of the kind described having coin distributing means as defined in claim 1 wherein the hopper is provided with a segmental partition wali spaced inwardly from the outer hopper wall to lie between the outer and inner rows oi feed-disc conveyer pockets.

3. In a machine of the kind described having a circular bowl disposed about an inclined vertical axis, said bowl having means to sustain coins o different denominations for movement in correspondingly different paths to a discharge opening in the lower side of said bowl, a coin carrier rotatable in said bowl, said carrier having around its circumference a iirst and second set of radially disposed carrying ways opposed to and open toward the bowl sides, the members of said sets of ways being alternately arranged, said carrier having at its top outer and inner annular rows of funnel-like mouths, the mouths of one row being in staggered relation to those of the other row, the mouths of one row communicating with one set of ways and the mouths of the other row communicating with the other set of ways, and a eed disc rotatable with said coin carrier, said feed disc having coin conveying pockets corresponding to the respective sets of coin carrier mouths, and a stationary plate intermediate said feed disc and coin carrier, said plate having coin passing openings therein.

4. In a machine of the kind described having a circular bowl disposed about an inclined vertical axis, said bowl having means to sustain coins of different denominations for movement in correspondingly different paths to a discharge opening in the lower side of said bowl, a coin carrier rotatable in said bowl, said carrier having around its circumference a rst and second set of radially disposed carrying ways opposed to and open toward the bowl sides, the members of said sets of ways being alternately arranged, said carrier having at its top outer and inner annular rows of funnel-like mouths, the mouths of one row being in staggered relation to those of the other row, the mouths of one row communicating with one set of ways and the mouths of the other row communicating with the other set of ways, and means cooperative with the respective sets of mouths for delivering coins thereinto, a hopper above said bowl and coin carrier, said hopper having a stationary bottom plate, a feed-disc rotatable in said hopper over said bottom plate synchronously with said coin carrier, said feeddisc having outer and inner annular rows of open conveyer pockets aligned over the respective outer and inner rows of coin carrier mouths, and said bottom plate having coin delivery openings providing communication between said pockets and mouths.

5. In a machine of the kind described having coin distributing means as defined in claim 4 wherein the hopper is provided with a segmental partition wall spaced inwardly from the lower portion of the outer hopper' wall to lie between the outer and inner rows of feed-disc conveyer pockets.

EDWARD P. DONNELLAN. 

